Okay, my husband has officially been told that his jokes are “Dad Jokes.”

Do you know what that means? Well, if you have a teenager, you probably do.

Dad jokes are well… how shall I put it? Dumb. Yep, they’re just flat out dumb. And, my husband has taken “dad jokes” to an all new, Olympic-sized level. 

The other night after dinner, he rubbed his stomach and said, “Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me.” Then, he looked at our teenage son and said, “Get it? Get it? All that is within me?” He chuckled and thought he was just hilarious while Connor rolled his eyes and sighed, “dad joke.”

So, you get it, right? But, when Phil used that Scripture as material for one of his dumb dad jokes, it made me think — “Oh brother, maybe dad jokes do have value?”

It made me think of how often I say “Bless me, Lord,” instead of “Bless the Lord.”

The scripture really says “Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me…” not, “Bless my soul, O my Lord!”

It’s easy to mindlessly utter the “Bless me, Lord” kind of prayer, isn’t it?

I pray that kind of prayer a lot! And, it’s a great prayer to pray. It’s okay to ask God for His blessing. He is ready to bless His children. God can, does, and wants to bless us. But, we need a little balance to the blessing prayers. Scripture tells us to bless the Lord with our souls, not just seek blessings for our souls.

So, take a moment and have a conversation with your soul!

Go ahead, I won’t tell anyone you’re talking to yourself! Tell your soul to do something constructive with itself! Tell your soul to bless God!

Now, that is about as churchy and vague as possible, isn’t it?

What in the world does it mean to tell your soul to bless God?

Okay, let’s break it down so we can figure it out.

Your soul is made up of your mind, your will, and your emotions. So, that means you sit down with yourself — your soul — and decide to make your thoughts a blessing to God, make your will and choices a blessing to God, and make your emotions a blessing to God.

To help your soul bless the Lord, ask yourself these questions:

1. Does my mind bless the Lord?

Is what I am thinking about a blessing to God? Do the things I ponder and meditate upon bless Him? Do my mental processes like judging, learning, and concluding honor and bless Him?

2. Does my will bless the Lord?

Do the choices I make bless God? Do I bless God when I am strong-willed? When I am weak-willed, is God honored? When I apply my volition to a situation, how does it make God feel?

3. Do my emotions bless the Lord?

Does the way I handle my feelings bless God? Do I have Spirit-honoring control over my feelings? Is God honored by the way I handle my emotions?

It’s good every now and then to really consider if our souls “bless the Lord.” When we focus on blessing God rather than just being blessed by God, the result is… blessing!

The cool thing is that when we bless the Lord with our souls, our souls are blessed.

John Piper put it this way: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

So, tell your soul to bless the Lord today and be most blessed! Sister, that ain’t no joke!

In what ways can your soul bless the Lord today?